My daughter's dream vacation is a trip to Japan. She loves Japanese culture, fashion and anime. So we'll be taking a trip in May. We'll be spending 6 days in Tokyo and 4 days in Osaka. We'll have JRail Passes so I'm looking for ideas for fabric shopping or textile museums or anything related to sewing. I'd also be amiable to joining any of you residents on a shopping trip!
Any information about fabric shops would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Contact the Japanese Travel Bureau and ask for guides, fabric store addresses and home stays. All these are good starting points if you are searching for fabric. They also have pen pals and you could search for one with an interest in sewing.
I am guessing your daughter can speak Japanese? Both Pimsleur and Rosetta will get up and running. Lots of free sites and apps. Learn how to ask for the name/address of fabric stores. Go to a bookstore upon arrival and get a bi-lingual travel atlas of the country and those 2 cities. When on foot you can easily find your way about with those maps. Understand how the addresses work- they are blocks and assigned by year built - not the system we use in the US.
Pull up Google Earth and get a feel for landmarks- where you are staying, routes & stations, signs in front of places you are visiting. You will feel less overwhelmed to navigate.
Lastly, I hope you love fish! It is absolutely the best in Japan whether raw or cooked. It is available for all 3 meals. When my daughter visited us there, at that time she did not like whole fish (served w/bones). At those places that didn't offer American Breakfast she survived on chocolate.
Some of my best memories are living in Japan. Have fun.

My blog post from a 2010 trip to Tokyo. I'd be happy to get co-ordinates for Bunka for you, it is soooooooo worth it to go to their bookstore! And you'll probably lose yourself browsing through Kinokuniya bookstore's vast crafting selection. I miss Japan.

Be prepared for the high cost of living though, taxi's start at $8 in certain places. Eek!

My son and his wife are in Okinawa(Air Force). They just got back from a vacation trip to Main land Japan. I know they visited where they have the fish auctions and they went to see and old village. I can't remember the name of it. I'll see if I can get some info from him.

The Tsukiji fish market was the ONE thing in Tokyo I missed out on seeing while we were there!! It was such a packed weekend and I just couldn't get myself up at 4 am to get down in time to watch the cool stuff.

Just heard back from DIL. They took their trip a month ago...here's what she said: Take good walking shoes. There are a lot of steps and few elevators. Very little handicap access.

Go to Osaka and Kyoto. Both are 20-30 minutes apart by subway(train). Osaka is a modern city with cheaper hotels. They stayed the Kishibe Station Hotel. Kyoto is "old town" with big temples and shrines, houses that are 100's of years old.
Check out the Osaka-jo Castle Park.
Eikan-do has an "awesome" temple and a functioning monastery .

Tokyo is great, but not real touristy. Plan to spend 1-2 days there if you want to visit the Skytree(tallest building in Japan). You will need to buy advance tickets on-line. There is a giant Buddha called Kotekuin in Kamakura(about 46-60 minutes south of Tokyo).

If you like shopping, Kawasaki has a large shopping complex on the way to Kamakura. Take the south bound train through the suburbs to get there. Head towards Yokusuka(American Navy Base). If visiting Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, the Shinkansen (bullet train) is a great option. The tickets are more flexible, train runs every 15 minutes. The price is cheaper than airfare and the experience is wonderful. Tickets can be bought at any train station in Japan with the prefix "shin" or on-line in advance.

Hope this helps. Please excuse any misspelled words. I copied this info from DIL's e-mail and probably flipped a few letters. She did say that I could give you her e-mail if you want to contact her directly for more info. I would only do this through private message. Have a wonderful trip.

Thanks so much for all the information. We are staying in Nakano, Tokyo. We went to Akihibara (known for its electrics and anime) and Nippori (Textile Town) today. I bought several pieces of beautiful fabric. I found some beautiful linen knits for $7 per meter, including some beautiful lightweight knits. My daughter bought an interesting knit with some doodle type lines and she also bought some Japanese cottons. I found some adorable cotton with little parakeet designs on it.
Textile Town had so many shops - I could easily have spent the whole day there. Imagine walking down a street with rows and rows of fabric stores on either side of the street. That was Textile Town.

We are planning to go to Osaka and Kyoto later this week. thanks so much for the advice on places to visit!

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